The Most Magical Time of the Year
by thediscordalliance
Summary: Christmas is a magical time for snow, skating, and feasting. It's even more magical at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. [Hogwarts AU of Abizeau's TWIW]


**Hey all! It's Doctor Kay. Here's a little one-shot (sorta) of the characters from Abizeau's TWIW as they celebrate Christmas at Hogwarts, just for fun! Enjoy!**

* * *

It snowed the day before Christmas. The castle was covered in fresh, powdered snow, towers peeking out from their new white caps. The grounds were blanketed in thick, white snow, and the students who had stayed for the Christmas holidays were taking advantage of it for some winter time fun.

Except Jericho.

He wasn't fond of the cold. Running around when it was wet and freezing was not his idea of a good time, which made him wonder why he was outside that afternoon.

Nikolai was already out on the ice rink he had made with a Freezing Charm, skating with grace and ease. Jericho could have watched him for hours, but Nikolai had other plans.

"Ready to skate?" he asked, skidding to a perfect stop.

"No, not really," Jericho said. He adjusted the black-and-yellow striped scarf around his neck in an attempt to get warmer. "Can I go back inside? It's freezing."

"It's not that cold," Nikolai said. "Come on."

Resigned, Jericho sighed and followed him out onto the ice. Almost immediately, he slipped.

"Are you all right?" asked Nikolai, looking concerned.

Jericho chuckled. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said, accepting Nikolai's help to stand.

He smirked, looking amused. "Here." He pulled out his wand and used a spell to transfigure Jericho's boots into skates.

"Oh, yeah, this will be much better." Jericho was unable to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.

Nikolai smirked as he stowed his wand. "Shall I conjure some cheese to go with that whine?"

Jericho blinked, not registering his words for a moment. Where was this sass coming from?

"Shut up," he replied shortly. Still holding onto Nikolai for balance, he slowly glided forward. "I don't skate, alright?"

"Clearly." Nikolai snorted. "I'm pretty sure Calvert's horse skates better than you."

"Watch it," Jericho warned. He probably didn't look very threatening since Nikolai was the only thing keeping him standing at the moment.

"No, really. You're worse than my great-aunt, and she's lost both her legs." Nikolai's tone was snide, but he had a smile on his face.

"Alright, that's it!" Jericho exclaimed. He shoved Nikolai, putting them both off balance, but once Jericho found his footing, he turned on Nikolai with a glint in his eye.

Nikolai blanched and began skating backwards, slowly, but quickly picking up speed.

"Come back here!" Jericho demanded. He tripped but scrambled to his feet to continue his chase.

Nikolai was laughing as he managed to stay just out of Jericho's reach. "I'm sorry! I was just kidding!"

"Too late!" Jericho crowed.

He tripped again, slamming into Nikolai, and they took a spectacular fall onto the ice, laughing.

"Ow," Nikolai said weakly as they untangled themselves.

Jericho snickered. "Shall I conjure some cheese-"

"Shut it, you." Nikolai swatted at him, only making Jericho laugh harder.

There was an almost childlike twinkle in Nikolai's blue eyes, a rosiness in his normally pale cheeks. A truly rare sight. Though they had been at Hogwarts together for years now, Jericho sometimes wondered if Nikolai had a childhood at all before he'd come.

"I was employing a motivational technique, you know," Nikolai said with a sniff. He got his feet and helped Jericho up. "And it worked. You skated, didn't you? If you can call that skating."

"Don't start." Jericho rolled his eyes.

After about an hour of skating, Jericho was starting to get better, but he was freezing. Nikolai agreed to go back inside so they could warm up.

* * *

On Christmas morning, Jericho was the first one awake. His owl, Blue, flew into the dorm and pecked at him.

"Ow. Good morning." He took the package from Blue and pet him.

He glanced over at Nikolai, who was still fast asleep.

"Wake up! It's Christmas!" He threw one of his pillows at the other boy, hitting him in the head.

"Urgh. What the-"

"Oh, good, you're awake."

Jericho glanced up to see Jinhai, an older Hufflepuff, walking into the dorm. He had a plate of macarons in his hands. Jinhai was rather gifted with Food Charms.

"Merry Christmas," he greeted.

"Merry Christmas," Jericho replied with a grin.

Nikolai groaned as he sat up. His pale hair was a mess. How cute. "Merry, uh, something," he mumbled sleepily.

Jericho laughed. "Come on, Nikolai. Wake up. We've got Christmas presents. And macarons."

"I made lots of them this morning," Jinhai said, setting the plate down on one of the dressers. "I have to go somewhere. I'll see you at the Christmas feast?"

"Yeah, of course." Jericho smirked slightly. "Heading to the Slytherin dorms to see someone?"

Jinhai ignored him and waved at them as he left.

Jericho chuckled. He grabbed a macaron before turning his attention to the presents piled at the foot of his bed. The one at the top was from his grandfather, a retired Auror. He had gifted Jericho a new book, detailing healing spells and charms. Jericho's sister, who was travelling in Russia, had sent him a new set of luxury quills. Nikolai had gotten him a gold watch with stars and planets on the face instead of the time.

Meanwhile, Nikolai was opening his presents, too. He received lots from his family, mostly trinkets and random objects. Expensive gifts, Jericho couldn't help noting.

Nikolai picked up his next gift and glanced at Jericho. "You got me a present?"

"You don't have to sound so surprised," he said with a laugh.

Nikolai blushed. "Thanks." He opened the package to reveal a pair of new ice skates. The boots were made of leather, and the laces were enchanted to tie themselves perfectly. The silver blades, sharp and gleaming, were precision balanced and would make Nikolai even faster on the ice. "Wow."

Jericho grinned. "Hope you like it. Took me a while to find skates that would be good enough for you."

Nikolai's face softened, and Jericho could tell he was touched. "Thank you."

* * *

The Great Hall was decked out in its magnificent decorations for the Christmas Feast. Frosty white Christmas trees lined the walls. Streamers of holly and mistletoe hung from the ceiling and snow was falling. There were more than two dozen students who had stayed behind for the holidays, but they all opted to sit at one table. The tables were covered in platters of roast turkey, steak, flaming Christmas puddings, and asparagus. Gingerbread cookies and cranberry pies were also available for eating. Christmas crackers were stacked every few feet down the length of the table.

At the High Table, Headmistress Andromeda was chatting and laughing with the other teachers. Professor Wright was giggling behind her multiple glasses of eggnog while Professor Johnson shook his head. Jericho sat next to Nikolai, with Jinhai sat on his other side, discussing some sort of book with Slytherin Haruhito. Across from them was Ravenclaw prefect Eliza, along with her Slytherin sister, Millie. The teachers led them in a few Christmas carols, and the Great Hall boomed with cheer.

The students spent the feast eating as much as they could, in between laughs and joyful chatter.

"Hogwarts makes the best food for Christmas," said Gryffindor Quin with a sigh.

"You say that every year." Another Gryffindor, Raphael, laughed.

"Because it's true!" Quin argued.

Raph shrugged. "Yeah, but nothing beats chocolate," he said. "Anybody want some?" He passed out chocolate to the people around him.

Meanwhile, Millie was talking about some new bag she had received. "Luxury handbag," she explained to anyone who would listen. "Even came with an Undetectable Extension Charm. Probably very expensive."

Jericho raised his eyebrows at the haughty tone in Millie's voice.

"I got it for her," Eliza said, seemingly oblivious to her smirk.

"She's a good sister," said Millie. She glanced at Jericho and Nikolai. "Did you get any interesting gifts?"

"I got new skates from Jericho," Nikolai offered.

"Jinhai brought us macarons," said Jericho with a chuckle.

"Aw, and you didn't bring me any?" Eliza asked, faking sadness.

"I will make plenty later," Jinhai promised.

"Good!"

A sudden blast like a cannon at the end of the table halted their conversation. Someone, Rafe and Quin, had pulled open one of the wizard crackers, resulting in a puff of blue smoke flying into the air. Everyone laughed.

Eliza shook her head. "Oh, Rafe."

Soon, there were loud bangs as the rest of the students and staff tugged on their own Christmas crackers. Jericho pulled a wizard cracker with Eliza, and out exploded a ring shaped like a dragon and a toque. Everyone was trading their gifts. Jericho ended up with a red fedora, a deck of Exploding Snap, and several trick wands. Nikolai was rolling his eyes as he put on his tricorne hat.

After the feast, Nikolai urged Jericho to go outside again, so he could try on his new skates. Jericho agreed quickly, still energized from the excitement of the feast.

They spent the afternoon skating, and Jericho felt he was starting to get the hang of it. Nikolai was still years better than him, though. He skated so gracefully, Jericho was sure it was some sort of magic. It was warmer than it was the day before, but they decided to head back inside for Christmas tea.

"What are they doing?" Nikolai asked.

As they were approaching the front of the school, they saw a group of students on the field. Among them were Tomlin, the Gryffindor Quidditch captain, flanked by a small band of Gryffindors, and Caspian, a Ravenclaw.

Tomlin waved at them and grinned. "Hey! Fancy seeing you out in this weather," he said to Jericho. "Thought you'd be inside reading."

He held up his hands, shivering slightly. "It wasn't my idea. I'm cold."

"Good job on getting him outside, Nikolai," Tomlin chortled.

"Why wouldn't you want to be outside? Snow at Hogwarts is like _Frozen_ in real life," said Rance, another Gryffindor.

" _Frozen?_ " Nikolai wondered.

Rance blushed slightly. "It's a, you know, Muggle film," he explained.

"I didn't like it much," Jericho mused. "The songs kept playing all the time."

"Maybe you just need to _let it go_ ," Rance said, laughing. "We should build a snowman."

Nikolai snorted. "Isn't that what kids do?"

Suddenly, something hit the back of his head. Everyone stopped talking. Slowly, they turned to see Quin, one of the Gryffindors, grinning mischievously as he tossed a snowball in his hand.

"That was not a good idea," Jericho muttered.

Nikolai pulled out his wand. " _Nixus!_ " he chanted.

There was a shot of blue light, and a pile of snow materialized above Quin's head.

"Oh, sh-" Quin disappeared under the snow.

Everyone burst out laughing while Nikolai had a self-satisfied smirk on his face.

Quin burst out of the snowbank. He muttered a quick spell to melt the snow off of his robes. "Okay," he said. "That one's on me."

"Snowball fight!" Tom called. He threw a snowball straight at Jericho's face.

"Hey!"

It quickly turned into a furious snowball fight. After a quick free-for-all, the boys split into teams; Jericho, Nikolai, Rafe, and Rance on one team, while Tom, Caspian, Quin, and Raphael were on the other team. No magic, just pelting each other with snowballs. Nikolai was surprisingly good at aiming at people. Poor Quin and Rafe were the most targeted.

In the middle of their fight, more students came outside, curious about the screams of laughter.

"What's going on out here?" Eliza inquired, an amused smile on her face. Behind her, Slytherin Kwasi rolled his eyes.

Tom shrugged. "We're having a snowball fight?"

"Quin started it!" Rafe yelled.

"Mind if we join you?" asked Eliza.

"Really?" Quin looked surprised she wanted in. "Not that we're underestimating you because you're a girl or anything, just-"

Eliza was already balling up some snow. She threw it at Tom, hitting him square in the chest.

"Oh, you're on, princess!"

Jericho laughed.

Later, everyone was gasping and shaking from the cold, but no one seemed to mind. They were too caught up in the joy of the season. He glanced over at Nikolai, a sly grin on his face as he took aim at Caspian. Jericho smiled. It was a very merry Christmas indeed.

* * *

 **Lots of JeriNiko, but Jericho is my character LOL. Shoutout to my girl,** OctaviaWithStarsForEyes **for that skating scene. I'm not as good as dropping lots of characters as Abi, but I tried haha. Hope you all got lots of gifts for Christmas, and I decided to get you all a gift too! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!**

 **\- Kay**


End file.
